The impact of DRG-based management of healthcare facilities on amenable mortality in the European Union

Abstract

The quality of healthcare management can have a significant impact on the healthcare results achieved. Results of hospital treatment are directly related to the patient’s health and quality of life, thus, it is necessary to examine the impact of different managerial approaches, including the ones related to financing, on indicators of healthcare provision. This article aims to determine whether there is a dependency between DRG-based (diagnosis-related groups) management of healthcare facilities and amenable mortality in the EU countries. Health expenditure per capita was measured in current international $, the number of doctors, nurses, and beds per 1,000 inhabitants were determined as the input factors, while amenable mortality was determined as the outcome factor. The order of the efficiency of the input-output ratio of individual countries was defined using DEA analysis. Subsequently, the countries with the own healthcare financing method were ranked versus the countries with DRG-based management and financing by the mean value between groups using the Mann-Whitney U-test, while no statistically significant dependence was found between them (p-value is 0.522-0.976 for 2012–2017). Thus, even though DRG-based hospital management has various expected benefits, such as better managerial efficiency and transparency of financing, this approach to healthcare financing and management does not significantly impact amenable mortality.